Chuckie Harris Park, Somerville

This $950K park project was designed to provide more green space to the neighborhood and reduce air pollution, as the park abuts Route I-93. The engineering scope included drainage, utilities and stormwater management design. DCI coordinated all utility and drainage design with a proposed landscape layout and grading ensuring a compatible design from subsurface utilities up to the above grade park features.

Design included low impact design (LID) techniques that involved the harvesting the water runoff from the spray park feature for subsurface irrigation of street trees along East Cross Street, as well as rain gardens to capture, treat and infiltrate stormwater runoff from the park.

At the Park’s groundbreaking in 2013, Mayor Joseph Curtatone said, “Chuckie Harris Park is an indication of community connection [that] makes Somerville an exceptional place to live, work and play for all the families.”

The Somerville Times noted how well designed the space is, as it fits a wealth of equipment and activities into a relatively small space. It also lauded the abundance of trees, particularly welcome given its proximity to I-93. And, the author wrote, “Apart from all the visible advantages of the new park, the surfaces of the park can filtrate stormwater. There is a ground water recharge that goes into the park. Permeable surfaces allow filtration to happen.